DRESSMAKERS BALL MONTH : The Fabric Wrangler’s Veronika Party Dress

All this month the Simple Sew Bloggers will be making party dresses to celebrate The Dressmaker’s Ball coming soon on 12th May…

Veronika could go to the Ball.

What better excuse to make a pretty dress than in anticipation of the Dressmakers ball. As one of the simple sew bloggers I chose Veronika. A simple fitted dress with either a full or straight skirt. I fancied using both of the skirt options by using the full skirt for a lace and the straight for the lining. Unfortunately when the lace arrived from FC Fabric Studio it was a lot softer than expected. Hey-ho, these things happen and it wasn’t the end of the world. It is in fact a beautifully soft flowing lace perfect for a circular skirt as per the pattern.

I like a longer length of skirt for full skirts than the pattern allows for, it would have been about knee length on me. When I laid it out I found that without a LOT of fiddling with the layout I couldn’t get a longer skirt. I also hadn’t allowed extra fabric so needed to make sure I could get the rest of the pattern out. I hadn’t planned this very well.

I cut the bodice out in lining first to check the fit, I cut the 12 after looking at the finished size, not too different to me.

Emma from Crafty Clyde has done a fabulous tutorial on the making of Veronika so I’m not going to go into great detail on the general make of her.

I cut one set of pattern pieces each of the lining and lace with an extra front and back bodice and waistband. I didn’t cut the facing pieces.

Once I’d stitched the darts in the front and back of both layers I put them together to use as one piece. Lace on top of lining, wrong side to right side. Tacked these to hold everything in place and then I then stitched the shoulders together. It pays to pop a bit of interfacing on the neckline to avoid it stretching as you work with it. I made up the extra lining pieces with the darts and again attached them at the shoulder. I then continued as the instructions show with the facings but using the lining instead. I trimmed the seam allowance nice and close so that I could feed the back sections through the shoulders and the curves would turn back on themselves. I understitched as far as I could and gave it a good press.

I put the waistband on and then the lace skirt, folding the seam allowance of the lace so it didn’t get caught when I put the zip in. After trying it on I looked in the mirror and this is when I decided it was definitly too short. It needed something…Tulle, a contrasting band? I didn’t have either of those.

I measured the hem of the lining to see how far round it was. Hmm, quite a long way around a circular skirt. I checked to see what I had left. Not so much but if I cut the remains into strips and stitched them together it might just work.

I stitched the lace strip onto the lining hem and tried it on again, better but now a bit long. I cut about 1 ½ inches off and it was just right, am I the only one who had goldilocks and her porridge pop into their heads then?

I put the zip in making sure that the lace skirt didn’t get caught in the stitching. The zip goes onto the lining of the skirt so that the lace hangs free. Very handy when you have several layers of soft fabric. I then caught the top lining down on the inside by hand, done.

Well, nearly. I didn’t like the lace with a raw finish, it had a scalloped edge on the length of the fabric but it didn’t work with the circular skirt.

I cut the edge off the scraps and pinned it around the bottom edge, much better. I used a three stitch zigzag to stitch a line along the top of the lace edge and trimmed off the excess fabric. A much nicer finish.

I’m amazed that I haven’t really had to adjust this pattern for fit. I think I could have done a slight bust alteration but it was minimal so I left it alone. The length is the only issue I have with it but that’s a totally personal preference. I won’t be eating lots of cake however if I want to wear this in the next six months. It’s a good fit but no room for too big a feast.

Buy the patterns here!

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BLOGGER OF THE WEEK

This week's Blogger of the Week is the fabulous Faye Ray Sews, who has already posted up two fabulous makes on the blog since joining the blogger team. Faye currently resides in Port Sunlight Village on the Wirral, and can usually be found in the lab, out on her motorbike or rattling away on her sewing machine!

As Faye explains, "Sewing has taught me that my 5’11” figure isn’t a hindrance, but a fabulous clothes hanger for all of my creations!" She's really made the most of her height with her fabulous Shannon Collection trousers and we love the 60's feel of her two stunning Trudy Dress makes too.

You can find Faye's makes over on the Simple Sew Blog and follow her on Instagram at @Fayeraysews